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Doors, Dinghies & Dogs

Steve

Doors, Dinghies & Dogs

Well, the Escort from another century made it down to Ponce Inlet, a charming little town at the end of the line on the ocean just south of Daytona Beach that mostly survived the hurricanes intact. It wasn't until the last few hours, thankfully after the torrential downpour, that I noticed the driver's side window wasn't going back up.

The car is 18 years old so the electrical systems are a little ... finnicky I believe is the technical term, but it did the job and got us down to Inlet Cove Marina where our little 39 foot bundle of Beneteau joy has been waiting since it survived hurricane Irma on the hard.

The 39 foot Oceanis 393 sailing vessel we've dedicated into the annals of Poseidon -- Guardian of the Deep in a ceremony late at night as City Dogs was as advertised, a fine big boat with a little wear and tear just looking for the right people to bring out the shine inside her -- but the dinghy was another story.

We thought it was used but serviceable, but the dilapidated, half-sunken thing sitting crippled on the sand in front of our boat looked more like a carcass than something that would float. The entire starboard inflatable section is deflated and the only repairman is something like an hour a way -- and the dinghy is way too big to fit in the trunk of my little Escort ZX2 coupe anyway.

At this point we're not sure what happened to it -- the only things that we know for sure is the dinghy seemed fine when Andrea took it on her initial inspection and it was essentially a piece of trash when we saw it for the first time on the hard yesterday. At this point we're not even sure if the dinghy is worth saving and as our grizzled boat guru told us, a used outboard motor is worth what a used outboard motor is worth -- which isn't much.

So we're left with the not so great options of paying to transport the old battered dinghy to get it repaired up in Cape Canaveral or just biting the bullet and buying a new one ... West Marine (which is becoming our goto shop with really amazing people) has a 9' one for like $2,000 but that is without a motor and the one we have right now is a little bigger fitting up to six people at once so we're on the fence as to what to do at this point...

Bottom line is we know we have to do something ... we need a real working reliable dinghy so we're going to have to get cracking on that ASAP. Hit us up in the comments or email us if you have any suggestions or know anyone in the Daytona Beach area looking to get rid of a good dinghy!

As far as the doggies are concerned, they were both a little nervous getting on board at first, especially the schnoodle -- pictured above looking uncertain on night one. Mischa's taken right to the boat and patrols the perimeter like we're back in our studio apartment in the East Village. Fozzie's getting there with that slow, temperamental schnauzer stubbornness informing his every action. Slowly but surely, they are both getting their little sea legs slowly in place, figuring it out one paw at a time, as as are Andrea and I.

Remember the window that wouldn't go up on the 18-year old Ford Escort? Well, it went down after a trip to West Marine to get some docking lines. It just started working again. Up and down like new. Like I said, finnicky is the technical term. I'm just glad the window is working again.

And don't worry, we're getting cushions sorted soon. Can't have the doggies sitting on the bare teak. Anyone have any recommendations?

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